Grow
by writingwhimseys
Summary: The Survey Corps' resident scientist is up to something, and her plan involves an unsuspecting Corporal. One-shot fluff, K for minor language.
Disclaimer: Do you really think I own AOT? Come on. If that were the case, Levihan would be canon. And it's not. So...yeah.

*No stealing stories, thanks*

* * *

 **Grow**

The Survey Corps often forget that Hange is not obsessed with Titans alone. In reality, she is a huge science nerd. Subsequently, whenever Hange isn't playing around with captured Titans or grossing out other squad members with talk of her experiments, she can often be found tinkering in her lab. Sometimes it's a dissection of local fauna, sometimes it's a physics experiment that ends up with a bill for new equipment finding its way onto Erwin's desk- in any event, Hange's lab is in constant, chaotic use.

Today, the subject of the day is chemistry. Test tubes and beakers are hooked up to a maze of a million wires, each spitting colorful fluid from container to container. Amidst the rainbow of steaming glass, Hange peers at her contraption. Moblit follows her closely, his usual look of barely restrained worry creasing his face.

"Everything's working wonderfully, Moblit!" Hange exclaims, watching her experiment with pleasure. "The reactions are happening just as planned, nothing has blown up so far... I think we may have done it this time!" Moblit nods dutifully, careful to keep Hange from getting too close to the setup with her face- he knows from experience that her goggles don't offer as much protection from chemical burns as they would appear to.

Hange's eyes follow the streams of liquid and gas that travel the chemistry circuit and comesto rest on an empty beaker somewhere near the end. To her delight, she watches as a stream of liquid begins to drip slowly into the beaker. Scrambling around for a clean eye-dropper, Hange proceeds to siphon the liquid, the color of sunlight through leaves, into a waiting bottle. When the bottle is nearly full, she plugs it and holds it above her head triumphantly.

"Success, Moblit!" She cries, beaming at her concoction. Moblit stares at the scientist's creation in confusion.

"What is it?" He asked hesitantly. Hange grins at him mischieviously.

"You'll have to wait and see. Let's just say that our dear Corporal Levi is in for a surprise."

* * *

Later that night, as the Survey Corps convene for dinner, Hange takes up her place at the end of the back table next to Erwin and Levi. It's a strange friendship the three of them share. No one questions the trio about their relationship to their face, but everyone wonders why they seem to get along so well. Some contribute it to Erwin's patience with Hange and Levi- neither of them are easy to handle, although Erwin never appears to have the same trouble with them. Hange likes to think that there is something more at play, but, if there is, no one brings it up. In the end, it doesn't matter why they get along. The fact that they do is enough for each of them.

This evening, Hange is trying to be sneaky. Normally, she's about as discreet as an elephant playing hide-and-seek, but tonight, she's really giving it her best. Her experiment won't work if Levi doesn't cooperate and, for him to cooperate, he can't find out that he's the subject.

As the three of them eat in idle chatter, Hange offers to grab drinks for them. Erwin's nod and Levi's silence sends her on her way to the food table. As she fills three glasses with water, her back to the cafeteria, she pulls her bottle of chemicals from her pocket and, opening it cautiously, proceeds to pour a few drops of the liquid into one of the glasses. The green liquid dissipates in the water, its color disappearing before Hange's gleeful eyes as she stirs the cup. Containing her excitement, she carries the water back to the group, careful to give Levi the glass with the chemicals.

The corporal says nothing as he takes a sip, his eyes on his plate. Hange watches him expectantly out of the corner of her eye. But to her dismay, nothing happens. Erwin picks up the conversation, prattling on about something the new recruits did that day, but Hange only listens half-heartedly. It didn't work. Levi looks no different- if it's even possible, he looks grumpier than before. Hange huffs, her face in a scowl.

"Why so pissed off?" Levi asks drolly, not bothering to even look up at her. Hange makes a face at him.

"Speak for yourself, shortie," she quips, as Erwin watches the two of them with his usual benign smile.

After dinner, Hange shuffles off to her room, flopping onto her bed fully clothed with a groan of frustration. Just another failure to add to the list. She pulls her glasses from her head and tosses them on her bedside table, rubbing her eyes morosely. She'll try again tomorrow but, tonight, she needs to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Hange drifts down the hallway to the cafeteria in her usual caffeine-less stupor. She yawns loudly, stretching her creaky limbs and narrowly avoid whacking passersby in the process. It isn't until she's nearly at the cafeteria that she begins to notice the whispers of hushed voices around her, quieter than the usual morning din. As she walks by people, she can hear fragments of their conversations.

"It's so weird- honestly, I'm a little freaked out."

"Has he always been like that?"

"I wonder what happened to the Corporal..."

At the mention of Levi- because let's be real, no other corporal gets talked about like he does- Hange is suddenly wide awake. Her experiment worked; she just knows it. Adrenaline rushes through her veins as she quickens her pace, eager to see what's become of her work. She bursts into the cafeteria and immediately eyes their corner. Erwin and Levi are already there, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Brow furrowed, she quickly fills her tray with the usual jumble of food and approaches their table expectantly. She is immediately disheartened; nothing appears different about Levi at all- same frown, same silence, same everything. Masking her disappointment, Hange puts on the biggest smile she can as she slides onto the bench.

"Good morning, Survey Corps leaders!" She says brightly. Erwin nods at her in silence while Levi makes no move whatsoever. It is at this frosty welcome that Hange suddenly senses the tension between the two of them. Hange frowns and turns to Erwin.

"Is something wrong?" She asks. Erwin glances at her evenly, nodding his head discreetly in Levi's direction. Hange looks between the two of them in confusion, her gaze eventually settling on Levi.

"What did you do, Levi?" As possibilities run through her head, her eyes widen in horror. "Did you kill one of my Titans again?" She squeals.

At her voice, Levi says nothing, finishing the last of his breakfast. With a jolt, the corporal stands up to leave their table and suddenly, the issue at hand becomes immediately obvious. Levi- the notably short, fury-filled corporal- is _tall._

Hange rises from her seat in a flurry and stares at Levi in a state of awe, her pulse quickening in excitement. Normally, the corporal stands a good head shorter than her, but, from across the table, Hange stands a tad below his eye level. She watches as Levi stalks away from their table, and with a start, she skids after him.

"How did you grow so tall?!" Hange exclaims. As she approaches Levi, she stops just short of running into him and continues to babble. "This is amazing- it must be a state of increased growth regeneration! I've got to test this-" Her words are immediately cut off as, in a blur of motion, Levi whacks her upside the head. Hange blinks up at him blearily, adjusting her glasses, as Levi fixes his gaze on her. If Levi has ever looked like the personficiation of anger, it is now; he watches Hange through narrowed eyes and pursed lips, and the scientist can almost feel the waves of rage that radiate from him.

"Watch yourself, four-eyes." Levi's voice is sharp and low, slicing through her excitement like a hot knife. Hange watches in disappointment as Levi stalks away, scattering scared people in his path. The side of Hange's head burns from where the corporal hit her, but she knows better than to take it personally, no matter how angry he seems. She'll yell at him later, but for the moment, all she feels is pure energy. Slowly, her face breaks into a splitting grin. This phenomenon needs to be experimented on; suddenly, she has so much work that needs to be done. She leaves the mess hall in a state of bliss, completely forgetting her breakfast as she hurries back to her lab. Finally, success!

* * *

Today was quite possibly the worst day of Levi's life. Levi is used to not being bothered. Typically, most people are too nervous around him to do anything but stammer, and this suites Levi just fine. Today, however, everybody is staring. Levi keeps his cool for most of the day, but when someone snickers and asks him for the third time in an hour why they can't see over his head anymore, he has had enough. Needless to say, the offending victim will not be making any more snide remarks for a while, given that Levi broke their jaw, among many other things.

Turning on his heels, Levi heads for his quarters, paying absolutely zero attention to the streams of people diverging before him as he walks, smoke practically coming out his ears. If he weren't so angry and violated- not that he would ever admit that to any living soul- he might enjoy being imposing in both personality and stature for once. He's grown used to his reputation and rather enjoyed scaring the crap out of people. But this? This was a nightmare. The attention, the increase in jokes at his expense- it's been getting under his skin, and this fact alone makes him want to completely destroy whoever had done this.

Of course, the list of suspects is a short one- there is only one person who could've done this to him. Only Hange could've created something to make him grow. More thoughts whir in his head. What the heck did she give him? Did she put Titan blood in it or something? With each step, Levi's resolve deepens. When he finds her, he is going to wipe that leer of her face and-

"Going somewhere?" A deep voice calls out. Levi stops and steps through the doorway he had halted in front of. Inside the room, Erwin sits at his desk, a stack of papers spread out before him. He watches Levi with a thinly disguised smile on his face.

"To kill Hange." Levi deadpans, his anger loosening his tongue more than usual. Erwin arches an eyebrow quizzically.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Erwin replies evenly. "How do you even know that your height is her fault?"

Levi says nothing, his stare narrowing further, if that was even possible. Erwin's smile grows smugly.

"I would've thought this would've been an improvement." He states. Levi stays quiet again, but continues to stare at Erwin. After a moment of watching the corporal in silence, Erwin sighs and turns back to his paperwork.

"Go find someone else to be angry with." Erwin says, waving a hand blithely as if to dismiss Levi. Unamused, Levi turns on his heel and is about to walk out the door, just slightly less rigid than before, when Erwin speaks up.

"Oh, and Levi," Erwin says, looking for all the world like the definition of pleasantness itself, "Just so you know, there will be no more unnecessary violence on any recruits. Be angry at them if you're insecure enough to feel the need to be, but any more broken jaws and you'll find yourself suspended from duty and having far worst problems than being a normal height."

At Erwin's words, Levi's eyes flash. Quickly, the corporal stalks out of the room, albeit not before blatantly giving his superior the middle finger as he disappears.

* * *

Hange is hunched over her desk, her eyes burning through pages and pages of scribbled notes as she goes over her calculations. She knows well enough that Levi will never trust her again after this- when has he ever, really?- but she has to keep experimenting. The fact that the formula works so well is incredible- who knows what kind of potential such an enhancer have? What if she could create an improved formula that enhances muscle function as well? At this thought, Hange frowns. It might have already improved muscle performance, but it's not like she could tell with Levi this morning. Perhaps she should ask Levi to-

Hange's thoughts are interrupted by the door to the lab banging open. Whirling around in her chair, she watches as Levi walks in, his stare immediately fixing on Hange. Moblit, who had been putting some equipment away, jumps about a foot in the air and nearly drops what he's holding, but he quickly recovers and scuttles out of the room, leaving Hange alone with Levi. Hange isn't scared of Levi like most people are, a perk she figures comes with being a brilliant, fearless scientist who deals with Titans for a living. However, as Levi approaches, Hange suddenly feels just a tad bit uncomfortable. She pushes the feeling away and stands up, finding herself at eye level with the pissed-off corporal. Quickly, she plasters a grin on her face.

"How's your day been, shorty? Although, I guess I can't call you that anymore. Now I need to come up with a new nickname for you. How about 'Titan'? You and Jaeger would be matching!" Hange laughs at her own words, while Levi levels his glare on her. Silence hangs in the air for a moment before Levi replies.

"Don't compare me to Jaeger or your abominations." Levi says slowly. All of Hange's hesitation evaporates at Levi's words, and she begins to sputter.

"How dare you insult my specimen?! My Titans are highly intelligent creatures- they're practi-" In a flash of motion, Levi clamps his hand over Hange's mouth, effectively cutting off her words and rendering her speechless. Hange glares at him, her eyes narrowing behind her smudged goggles as she tries to speak but utterly fails. Slowly, Levi leans in ever so slightly towards Hange's frowning face, his gaze pointed.

"You're the one who experimented on me, psycho. I can call your Titans whatever I want and if you don't shut up, I'll never take my hand off of your filthy mouth." Hange cocks an eyebrow at him, as if daring him to keep her silent. After a stand-off of a few seconds, Levi removes his hand from Hange's mouth and Hange exhales, her face screwed up in fury. She opens her mouth as if to round on him for shutting her up when the anger leaves her face entirely, her expression changing to one of curiosity. Levi frowns at her.

"What are you staring at?" He mutters. Hange's gaze is fixed on his head, and she barely looks at him when he asks the question.

"Your height. This morning, you were taller than me, but I'm at eye level with you now." Hange puts her hand up to Levi's head, measuring his height and then her own in turn, to Levi's displeasure. Hange, however, entirely ignores Levi as she starts talking, her voice growing in pitch and speeding up with every word.

"The effects of my serum must be fading! This is incredible- the degeneration of the effects of the serum must be temporary, then. Given the rate of shrinkage, you'll probably be short again by midnight. But at such a fast speed- there must be a way to increase the length of the effects. I'll have to do more testing on you, since you would be the control for a retrial." As she speaks, Hange whips around and runs off to her cabinet, rustling through its contents.

"Oh, and I was meaning to ask you, I want to check your muscle mass, to see if the serum had any other effects on you. I need you to take off your shirt so I can ch-" As Hange's hand alights on the item she was looking for- a packaged syringe- and she turns back too the room, she finds herself alone in the lab, the door still swung open and no sign of Levi. In the midst of her talking, Levi must have slipped out without her hearing. Hange frowns, brandishing her syringe like a knife as she yells the corporal's name in frustration.

"LEVI!"

* * *

The next morning, Erwin approaches the breakfast table to find Hange arguing with Levi. In reality, it's not really arguing so much as Hange yelling at Levi and Levi ignoring Hange. Erwin shakes his head to himself as he sits down, his ears already ringing from the noise. In his sleep-addled opinion, it is far too early in the morning for this.

As Erwin sits down, Hange immediately turns to him, her eyes wide and steely.

"Erwin, tell Levi he has to be a part of my experiment! I need him to test my new serum for me- the other one worked so well on him and the formula I created last night is stronger, so it has to be him. He's already back to normal height, even. This is an incredibly important discovery, Erwin! I know I'm on the brink of something huge!" Hange continues to ramble for a moment before Erwin cuts her off.

"Hange, I can't force Levi to participate in your experiment. If I did, that would be a violation of his rights and I would get in a fair amount of trouble for doing it." In reality, Erwin simply doesn't want to deal with the situation- he might be able to convince Levi, but that's a battle he doesn't feel like fighting.

At Erwin's words, Hange huffs and turns to her food, momentarily silenced as she starts on her breakfast at a furious pace. Levi continues eating quietly, leaving the table to fall into silence. Secretly relieved, Erwin begins to tuck into his food as well. Not a moment later, though, Hange's eyes light up and she turns to the men beside her.

"Want me to get you guys drinks?" She asks with a grin on her face. Erwin and Levi reply in unison.

"No."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading- hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think- reviews/critiques/comments are always appreciated. Cheers!


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